After 7 weeks in burn unit, another Lahaina victim dies
As thousands of people rushed to flee the raging wildfire that swept through Lahaina, a flaming branch crashed to the roadway ahead of Laurie Allen’s car as she tried to escape. With the fire closing in, she knew that her only hope was to get out and run — through the inferno.
One hand held her important documents; the other clasped the hand of her landlady. They sprinted through the flames — the papers incinerating, their grasp faltering in the searing heat. Allen eventually emerged, running into a firefighter who enveloped her to extinguish the fire.
That night, as the blaze continued raging through Lahaina, Allen was raced to the Straub Medical Center burn center in Honolulu, part of a desperate effort to save her life. But after a series of surgeries and meticulous skin grafts, after weeks of encouragement and prayers and raw hope, the multiple infections that set in could no longer be kept at bay on a body that had been so extensively burned.
